Skiing in Austria
2:17 PM
Hi
Well, I've just got back from Austria where I spent the weekend skiing. Friday I left Stuttgart and flew to Vienna with one of my colleagues from Vienna that i'm working with here in Stuttgart (Siegfried or Sigi) where we picked up his car and drove a few hours to Radstadt. Here we joined about 20odd other members of the Vienna audit team who's ski trip I was tagging along on. Dinner was had and I didn't say much as they all spoke German. The occasionally changed to English and had brief conversations with me.
Saturday we got up early and headed to the ski hire shop which I picked up some ski's, poles and shoes for a total of 27 euros for two days hire. We then headed in a group to the first mountain Flachau/Reitdorf. I joined the "slow" group and we headed up the mountain. Weather wasn't too flash and visibility wasn't the greatest. Sigi stayed with the slow group while we found our feet but tells me I was better than he thought I would be. Nice to hear from someone who can probably ski backwards faster than i can forwards.
Went straight to Intermediate slopes, good powder coverage and we got a few good runs in before lunch. I fell a few times but most of those, it was quite slow and I was up again after a few seconds in the snow. Just before lunch, in order to get to the lodge where we agreed to meet the others, we were "forced" to ski a black run (expert). At this point the weather was god aweful and I seriously couldn't see much except the fact that the slope was very steep. Unbelievably, I did good and made it down. However, Sigi and I went the wrong way and had to go up and do it again and turn the right way for the 2nd time! Again I made it down and had a great time.
More skiing saturday afternoon with a few more crashes but overall, I was having an amazing time. Saturday night, we grabbed dinner then headed to a pub which has a toboggan track. We all started on few beers but more importantly, the partner of audit Vienna and Sigi quickly made sure I was sampling proper Austrian drinks. This meant I was drinking Jagermeister + Redbull, as well as a selection of Schnappes. After the whole group was politely drunk, we headed for the toboggan (Rodelbahn). Sigi and I teamed up and we quickly set the pace as the fastest pair out there. However, we also earnt the reputation as most crazy as we didn't break til it was way too late and only ever made it around 1 corner out of about 15 successfully. The other 14, we crashed, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Laughed our butts off though. We had a great time.
Sunday I woke up sore, particularly my left knee but I toughed it out and pushed through. We again met early and headed to another field Reiteralm. Again, I joined the slow group. Sigi left us to join the fast group for the day. Most of the runs on this mountain were Red, meaning intermediate but a lack of overnight snow and good piste preparation made this runs hard and fast. At one point, I was literally belting along, almost not turning at all, passing lots of other people on the mountain, then all of a sudden, Sigi and the "fast group" came booming past us, almost a blur. Put me in my place but felt ok given my 10 days experience vs their 20+ years.
Sunday afternoon, we left about 3pm, headed back to Vienna. Stayed on Sigi's couch overnight, where I was exhausted then took a flight back to Stuttgart Monday morning. Straight to the office, a little tired, a little sore but happy in the fact that I'd just done some of the best skiing in my life. Was truely excellent.
That's all the news from Stuttgart at present.
Hope you are all well.
Take it easy.
Dave
Well, I've just got back from Austria where I spent the weekend skiing. Friday I left Stuttgart and flew to Vienna with one of my colleagues from Vienna that i'm working with here in Stuttgart (Siegfried or Sigi) where we picked up his car and drove a few hours to Radstadt. Here we joined about 20odd other members of the Vienna audit team who's ski trip I was tagging along on. Dinner was had and I didn't say much as they all spoke German. The occasionally changed to English and had brief conversations with me.
Saturday we got up early and headed to the ski hire shop which I picked up some ski's, poles and shoes for a total of 27 euros for two days hire. We then headed in a group to the first mountain Flachau/Reitdorf. I joined the "slow" group and we headed up the mountain. Weather wasn't too flash and visibility wasn't the greatest. Sigi stayed with the slow group while we found our feet but tells me I was better than he thought I would be. Nice to hear from someone who can probably ski backwards faster than i can forwards.
Went straight to Intermediate slopes, good powder coverage and we got a few good runs in before lunch. I fell a few times but most of those, it was quite slow and I was up again after a few seconds in the snow. Just before lunch, in order to get to the lodge where we agreed to meet the others, we were "forced" to ski a black run (expert). At this point the weather was god aweful and I seriously couldn't see much except the fact that the slope was very steep. Unbelievably, I did good and made it down. However, Sigi and I went the wrong way and had to go up and do it again and turn the right way for the 2nd time! Again I made it down and had a great time.
More skiing saturday afternoon with a few more crashes but overall, I was having an amazing time. Saturday night, we grabbed dinner then headed to a pub which has a toboggan track. We all started on few beers but more importantly, the partner of audit Vienna and Sigi quickly made sure I was sampling proper Austrian drinks. This meant I was drinking Jagermeister + Redbull, as well as a selection of Schnappes. After the whole group was politely drunk, we headed for the toboggan (Rodelbahn). Sigi and I teamed up and we quickly set the pace as the fastest pair out there. However, we also earnt the reputation as most crazy as we didn't break til it was way too late and only ever made it around 1 corner out of about 15 successfully. The other 14, we crashed, sometimes in spectacular fashion. Laughed our butts off though. We had a great time.
Sunday I woke up sore, particularly my left knee but I toughed it out and pushed through. We again met early and headed to another field Reiteralm. Again, I joined the slow group. Sigi left us to join the fast group for the day. Most of the runs on this mountain were Red, meaning intermediate but a lack of overnight snow and good piste preparation made this runs hard and fast. At one point, I was literally belting along, almost not turning at all, passing lots of other people on the mountain, then all of a sudden, Sigi and the "fast group" came booming past us, almost a blur. Put me in my place but felt ok given my 10 days experience vs their 20+ years.
Sunday afternoon, we left about 3pm, headed back to Vienna. Stayed on Sigi's couch overnight, where I was exhausted then took a flight back to Stuttgart Monday morning. Straight to the office, a little tired, a little sore but happy in the fact that I'd just done some of the best skiing in my life. Was truely excellent.
That's all the news from Stuttgart at present.
Hope you are all well.
Take it easy.
Dave
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